Shaken, but still cruising

MIDDLEBORO — For Leilani Dalpe and her husband, Glenn Montapert, the words "vacation" and "cruise" are nearly interchangeable. But while many of the 40-plus cruises the couple have enjoyed have involved lots of activities and socializing, the two were looking for a quiet, stress-free trip when they booked a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas with the Royal Caribbean line.

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By JANE LOPES

southcoasttoday.com

By JANE LOPES

Posted Jun. 6, 2013 at 10:45 AM

By JANE LOPES

Posted Jun. 6, 2013 at 10:45 AM

» Social News

MIDDLEBORO — For Leilani Dalpe and her husband, Glenn Montapert, the words "vacation" and "cruise" are nearly interchangeable. But while many of the 40-plus cruises the couple have enjoyed have involved lots of activities and socializing, the two were looking for a quiet, stress-free trip when they booked a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas with the Royal Caribbean line.

It didn't exactly turn out as planned.

One night into the cruise, at 3 in the morning, the Middleboro couple were at their muster station attired in life jackets, watching life boats being lowered while the captain explained that he had issued a "Mayday" call.

"We left from Baltimore on a nice day, and went shopping in Port Canaveral (Florida), enjoyed a nice evening and everything was going fine," said Ms. Dalpe. "Just before 3, I don't know what woke me up. It must have been the alarm although I didn't really hear it. I got up, went into the bathroom and then went back to bed. Two minutes the captain is on the loudspeaker.

"We've been on 40 some cruises and we're seasoned," she said. "We could probably run the muster drills ourselves. But the drills usually happen in the daytime and I was thinking, 'This is not a drill' when the captain said 'This is not a drill.' We grabbed our passports, money and jewelry out of the safe ... we knew it was pretty real at that point."

On Deck 5 at their muster point, the scene was orderly enough.

"It was like an eerie calm," Ms. Dalpe said of the atmosphere around her. "There weren't any people talking ... You could smell smoke. It was pitch dark, so you couldn't see unless you looked down to the back of the ship, and you could see something."

Ten or 20 minutes passed before the passengers learned that a fire had broken out in a room where the ship's ropes were stored, two decks below on the same level as their room but in the aft section of the ship while their room was in the front.

"Five minutes later the lifeboats came down," Ms. Dalpe said. "Glenn and I were really nervous at that point. We're not really affectionate in public but we took each other's hands and squeezed."

As the captain announced that he had placed a "Mayday" call, the passengers noticed another cruise ship had turned and was heading their way. Soon Coast Guard helicopters were circling the ship.

"People in the back said later that they could see flames shooting out," Ms. Dalpe said.

But after a tense two-hour wait, the captain announced that the fire seemed to be out. The passengers were doing the best they could to stay calm.

"A little boy, 8 or 10 years old, was beside me," Ms. Dalpe said. "He was trying to be brave, but he was absolutely terrified."

Just after 6 a.m., the captain announced that passengers could return to their cabins.

"We were so exhausted, and the adrenaline started to fall," Ms. Dalpe said. They slept for an hour or two, then returned to the deck where the crew was trying to feed 2,224 passengers and 796 crew members while cooking on hot plates, since the ship's galleys had been destroyed.

Finally, the ship landed in Freeport, a relatively tiny port in the Bahamas, and Ms. Dalpe and Mr. Montapert alighted with the rest of the passengers.

"I wasn't until we got off the ship that we realized how close we had come," Ms. Dalpe said. "We saw the back of the ship and we were shocked."

The fire had destroyed a four-deck section of the ship. Later, Ms. Dalpe said she learned that the situation could have been far worse. The crew recreation room is on the deck just above where the fire broke out, and crew members "started to feel the floor getting hot." Had they not been in the room, the fire might have burned out of control.

Everyone was ultimately flown back to Baltimore. Ms. Dalpe and Mr. Montapert spent the rest of the week with the cousin in Pennsylvania who was caring for their dog during the cruise.

Ms. Dalpe said the crew and cruise line went out of their way to assist the passengers and reimburse them for the lost vacation. Royal Caribbean refunded the cruise and gave everyone credit for a second with all expenses paid. Ms. Dalpe said she and her husband already have a cruise booked for September and will not let last month's scare deter them, even though they are still suffering some effects from the event.

"Glenn has a cold now, and I know it's the stress," Ms. Dalpe said. "It's been tough sleeping, I find myself waking up a lot and it's hard to concentrate."